To those who've lost significant amounts of weight, I'm curious to know how you've changed, if at all? I've noticed with people I've known that it can really differ from person to person. One friend became more outgoing and positive, and the other became a little difficult to be around. But this is coming from me, not them, so I'd love to know what YOU think about yourself!

Well having been fat and having been thin and now fat again I can say I am still the same person. The only big difference is when I feel I look my best and feel my best, I am more comfortable going into social situations where I do not know a person there. That is about it.

I just noticed this was TDC after I posted. Sorry If I'm not supposed to post here

Oh I just posted here because I'M a TD person, not because I only wanted those kinds of people to respond!

That's pretty interesting! I sort of wonder if it just depends on the person, or if how much weight you're losing. Or I suppose, a little of both!

I have been chubby/heavy , anorexic, and a healthy weight. I felt the most outgoing and confident at my heathy weight.

I also felt the most mentally stable mood wise. Chicken or Egg ?? I believe it was the nutrition and exercise that helped my moods.

Thanks Sugar. I go blasted once years ago posting here when someone had asked an opinion because I didnt belong here so I was hoping it was ok.

I love to hear from everyone! 1 lb to 100+ to lose. We are all pulling together

The first time I lost over 80 lbs. I think people reacted way differently to me than I did to myself. some good and some just ticked me off.

I've never been thin so it would be really weird to actually be normal weight - I think I would feel really weird and probably it would negatively affect my behavior for awhile, mainly because of other people's reactions. I don't feel like I've changed much except losing the mood swings I got on gluten. I don't find the way I eat particularly difficult to stick to, so I think it's easy to avoid that stress around eating that some people who restrict calories alot have. I exercise but it's not tied to weight loss for me (more to weight gain!) so I don't have that stress or anxiety about keeping it up just for weight's sake, either.

Thanks for the posts guys!

I just find the whole thing really interesting, because you never really know - are you acting differently, or are other people acting differently towards you? For me, going from around 140lbs to around 300lbs now, the way people treat you is SO different! Especially being a girl, let's face it, it's an entirely different planet! Guys rarely even glance at me now; I could not be more invisible. (Not that I'm complaining, because I absolutely hated being checked out by guys when I was thin!) It's like you're in your very own fatsuit experiment, the kind you see on tv when someone like Tyra puts on a bunch of padding and <gasp> people don't treat her as nicely as they did when she was thin! Imagine that!

But who knows, it may be my own poor perception about myself that gives off the "don't look at me" vibe to people. I've always had poor self-esteem anyway, so I suppose the two things together just feed off each other!

I guess there's just this little part of me that wonders - as I prepare to get back on Atkins for the thousandth time - will I become a conceited or obnoxious if I actually lost all the weight? I know, it's a weird thing to fear; I guess I'm just weird that way! I think the experience that I had with one friend losing a bunch of weight sort of makes me wary. What a nice guy he was, and then he lost all the weight and became... well... a JERK! I would just hate to be that person!

Me too, I like to hear everyone's experience! After all, at one point, I was at your weight - it's just that I happened to get much fatter than that - so I know what it's like to be where you are too!

I'm sure you're right about that, people treating you differently! I know that some people can become jealous, and I think it's pretty common for people, even nice people, to feel bad when someone else is doing great while they're not. It's pretty complicated I guess!

You've never been thin, and I haven't been at my goal weight since I was a teenager, so I guess that's pretty similar! If I think of myself as I was the last time I was thin, it's as a pain in the neck, silly, happy, 18 year older! I won't be that same person again - which is good and bad! - so it's an odd thing to think of myself as a thin person today, because me being thin is so foreign to me now. I can only hope that it would all be positive, but I'm sure, like you said, there would be some negatives, as I got used to living differently, and having people treat me differently.

Nice! I hope that's true for me too! The carb roller coaster is no good for my moods

I became morbidly obese when I was in my late 30s. By the time I hit 40, I was 287.
It changed me a lot in the way I felt about myself and how I put myself out to the world. I was defeated and in shock over my morbid obesity. Miserable to say the least. I isolated myself with great shame.

It took me 15 yrs to "get it" and finally figure out how to get it off....and keep it off. Did this change me? You bet it did!! But not in the ways I had hoped for or thought of.

I used to take all kinds of crap from people.....no more!
I used to stuff my anger down with food.....no more!

I feel comfy in my own skin now. I feel as if there is a chance for me to heal some old wounds now that the weight has been off for 4 1/2 yrs.

If I ask others around me in real life, I'd probably get a very different point of view....but thats their problem, not mine!!

I am sure it has changed me in some ways. But it's hard to exactly say, because there are SOOOOOOO MANY other factors that have changed in my life over the past 4 or 5 years as well.

I still am not "comfortable" in my skin as a poster above put it. But each day goes by, I think I do get more comfortable with my image.

I think I will be most comfortable with my body when all the "skinny" jokes stop. When you are really fat, people will sometimes bust on you for being so big. Well, then when you actually start getting in shape...you get comment after comment about how much weight you have lost, and people start making skinny jokes. While I know they mean well and most are honestly proud of your accomplishment, it gets old after a while.

End of rant that went completely off topic, LoL.

I have noticed there is a vast difference in experience, especially emotionally, between people who were thin as a teen or adult and then gained, and those who were always pudgy and had ups and downs but never crazy changes in appearance. I did gain beyond my comfort zone a few years back, but I was having babies at the time and it all got lumped together. 230 and under feels "normal" to me. I always had positive male attention at all weights, too, so I never felt that kind of isolation. I've always had to live in this body, was always active in it, and always did everything I had to do in it, whether it be hanging out in a bathing suit or taking a dance class or, lately, running in organized races. I can't imagine being normal weight. Even at my lowest weight - around 152 in high school - people would make comments and pig sounds at me on the street, so I don't have good memories of what would probably be a good weight for me now.

I find this all very encouraging, and even more so after reading your Sucess Story, congrats!
So it sounds like all good things to me! It's hard for me to imagine actually addressing my own anger issues, because I always try to avoid feeling that way, so I'm envious of anyone who is that in touch with their feelings and can deal with them directly. I'm so out of touch with my anger that half the time I don't even realize something is bothering me until it's too late! And by that time, I've blown up at someone about something they didn't even know was bothering me!

At first when I read your post, I thought- Wow, people crack on your weight that often? And then it dawned on me that you were a He and not a She! I think it's interesting that people (guys especially) feel free to joke with a man about his weight in a way that they'd NEVER do with a woman! My BF is also a "Big guy" - and it's funny how other guys with just refer to him as "Big Guy" or "Big Fella" or something like that. It bugs the heck out of me! If someone ever said "Big Lady" to me I think I would probably faint from humiliation.